Abstract: Ligula intestinalis is a three-host life-cycle
Pseudophyllidean Cestode which in its plerocercoid stage infests a
range of fresh water species. The objective of the present study was
the worm occurrence within planctonic copepods, fishes and
piscivorous birds and examine of parasite-hosts samples in the Lake
of Sattarkhan Dam (near the city of Ahar, East Azerbaijan, Iran).
Fish sample were collected with fyke and gill nets and the abdominal
cavity was examined for the presence of ligula. Zooplanktons were
captured using a planktonic net and occurrence of parasitic larval
form in the body cavity was determined. Piscivorous birds were
selected by telescope, they hunted and dissected for presence of
parasite eggs in their gut. Results indicated that prevalence of
infection was 16% for cyclopid copepoda and majority of infected
cyclopid were female Cyclops. Investigation of 310 fishes specimens
were indicated to infection of five species of cyprinid fishes. In
addition, results indicated to manipulation of six species of migratory
aquatic and semi aquatic birds by ligula. Obtained results are in
agreement by previous studies. Its definite in this study that all of
fishes in Sattarkhan Lake capable to infection, its important for
health because they capture by native people and it is documented
that ligula can be introduce as a zoonose. It's seemed that to prevent
from disperses of parasite and restricted of infection, biological
elimination can be effective and it's necessary to inform native
people about sanitation.
Abstract: This paper evaluates the association between
economic environment in the districts of Madrid (Spain) and physical
inactivity, using income per capita as indicator of economic
environment. The analysis included 6,601 individuals aged 16 to 74
years. The measure of association estimated was the prevalence odds
ratio for physical inactivity by income per capita. After adjusting for
sex, age, and individual socioeconomic characteristics, people living
in the districts with the lowest per capita income had an odds ratio for
physical inactivity 1.58 times higher (95% confidence interval 1.35 to
1.85) than those living in districts with the highest per capita income.
Additional adjustment for the availability of sports facilities in each
district did not decrease the magnitude of the association. These
findings show that the widely believed assumption that the
availability of sports and recreational facilities, as a possible
explanation for the relation between economic environment and
physical inactivity, cannot be considered a universal observation.
Abstract: Nowadays, doping is an intricate dilemma. Wrestling
is the nationally popular sport in Iran. Also the prevalence of doping
may be high, due to its power demanding characteristics. So, we
aimed to assess the knowledge and attitudes toward doping among
the club wrestlers. In a cross sectional study, 426 wrestlers were
studied. For this reason, a researcher made questionnaire was used. In
this study, researchers selected the clubs by randomized clustered
sampling and distributed the questionnaire among wrestlers.
Knowledge of wrestlers in three categories of doping definitions,
recognition of prohibited drugs and side effects was poor or moderate
in 70.8%, 95.8% and 99.5%, respectively. Wrestlers have poor
knowledge in doping. Furthermore, they believe some myths which
are unfavorable. It seems necessary to design a comprehensive
educational program for all of the athletes and coaches.
Abstract: Young people have a high prevalence of mental health
problems, yet tend not to seek help. Trusted adults in young people-s
lives, such as teachers and sports coaches, can make a major positive
contribution to the mental health of young people. Teachers and
sports coaches may be in a position to be effective in supporting
young people-s mental health through promotion, prevention and
early intervention. This study reports findings from interviews with
21 teachers and 13 sports coaches of young people aged 12 to 18 in
Canberra, Australia, regarding their perceptions of the relevance and
effectiveness of their role in supporting young people-s mental
health. Both teachers and coaches perceived having influential but
slightly different roles to play in supporting mental health. There may
be potential to elevate the influence of teachers and coaches as
sources of support for young people and their mental health care.
Abstract: Diabetes is one of the high prevalence diseases
worldwide with increased number of complications, with retinopathy
as one of the most common one. This paper describes how data
mining and case-based reasoning were integrated to predict
retinopathy prevalence among diabetes patients in Malaysia. The
knowledge base required was built after literature reviews and
interviews with medical experts. A total of 140 diabetes patients- data
were used to train the prediction system. A voting mechanism selects
the best prediction results from the two techniques used. It has been
successfully proven that both data mining and case-based reasoning
can be used for retinopathy prediction with an improved accuracy of
85%.
Abstract: Health problems linked to urban growth are current
major concerns of developing countries. In 2002 and 2005, an
interdisciplinary program “Populations et Espaces ├á Risques
SANitaires" (PERSAN) was set up under the patronage of the
Development and Research Institute. Centered on health in
Cameroon-s urban environment, the program mainly sought to (i)
identify diarrhoea risk factors in Yaoundé, (ii) to measure their
prevalence and apprehend their spatial distribution. The crosssectional
epidemiological study that was carried out revealed a
diarrheic prevalence of 14.4% (437 cases of diarrhoea on the 3,034
children examined). Also, among risk factors studied, household
refuse management methods used by city dwellers were statistically
associated to these diarrhoeas. Moreover, it happened that levels of
diarrhoeal attacks varied consistently from one neighbourhood to
another because of the discrepancy urbanization process of the
Yaoundé metropolis.
Abstract: Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease; its symptoms and appearances are not exclusive in human and its traditional diagnosis is based on culture, serological methods and conventional PCR. For more sensitive, specific detection and differentiation of Brucella spp., the real time PCR method is recommended. This research has performed to determine the presence and prevalence of Brucella spp. and differentiation of Brucella abortus and Brucella melitensis in house mouse (Mus musculus) in west of Iran. A TaqMan analysis and single-step PCR was carried out in total 326 DNA of Mouse's spleen samples. From the total number of 326 samples, 128 (39.27%) gave positive results for Brucella spp. by conventional PCR, also 65 and 32 out of the 128 specimens were positive for B. melitensis, B. abortus, respectively. These results indicate a high presence of this pathogen in this area and that real time PCR is considerably faster than current standard methods for identification and differentiation of Brucella species. To our knowledge, this study is the first prevalence report of direct identification and differentiation of B. abortus and B. melitensis by real time PCR in mouse tissue samples in Iran.
Abstract: The effectiveness of consuming a nutrient fortified oat drink on iron, zinc, vitamin A and vitamin C status was assessed among a cohort of school-aged Filipino children. Ultimate study implementation permitted only a within-subject comparison of change in nutritional status after four months of consuming a nutrient fortified oat drink. Thirty-eight anemic children (5-8 years) consumed an oat drink fortified with iron as NaFeEDTA, zinc, vitamin A and vitamin C for 120 days. Height, weight, serum nutrient levels, anemia status and dietary intake were assessed pre and post intervention. Thirty-four anemic children completed the intervention. After 4 months of intervention, prevalence of anemia decreased by 68% and significant improvements in iron and vitamin A status were observed. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the fortified oat drink in alleviating anemia in young children and highlight the value of fortification programs
Abstract: With getting older in the whole population, the
prevalence of stroke and its residual disability is getting higher and
higher recently in Taiwan. The functional electrical stimulation
cycling system (FESCS) is useful for hemiplegic patients. Because
that the muscle of stroke patients is under hybrid activation. The raw
electromyography (EMG) represents the residual muscle force of
stroke subject whereas the peak-to-peak of stimulus EMG indicates the
force enhancement benefiting from ES. It seems that EMG signals
could be used for a parameter of feedback control mechanism. So, we
design the feedback control protocol of FESCS, it includes
physiological signal recorder, FPGA biomedical module, DAC and
electrical stimulation circuit. Using the intensity of real-time EMG
signal obtained from patients, as a feedback control method for the
output voltage of FES-cycling system.
Abstract: The study was conducted to investigate the profile of
hepatitis in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and to determine which age
group hepatitis viruses most commonly infect. The epidemiology of
viral hepatitis in Saudi Arabia has undergone major changes,
concurrent with major socioeconomic developments over the last two
to three decades. This disease represents a major public health
problem in Saudi Arabia resulting in the need for considerable
healthcare resources. A retrospective cross sectional analysis of the
reported cases of viral hepatitis was conducted based on the reports
of The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia about Hepatitis A, B and C
infections in all regions from the period of January 2006 to December
2010. The study demonstrated that incidence of viral Hepatitis is
decreasing, except for Hepatitis B that showed minimal increase. Of
hepatitis A, B, and C, Hepatitis B virus (HBV) was the most
predominant type, accounting for (53%) of the cases, followed by
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) (30%) and HAV (17%). HAV infection
predominates in children (5–14 years) with 60% of viral hepatitis
cases, HBV in young adults (15–44 years) with 69% of viral hepatitis
cases, and HCV in older adults (>45 years) with 59% of viral
hepatitis cases. Despite significant changes in the prevalence of viral
hepatitis A, B and C, it remains a major public health problem in
Saudi Arabia; however, it showed a significant decline in the last two
decades that could be attributed to the vaccination programs and the
improved health facilities. Further researches are needed to identify
the risk factors making a specific age group or a specific region in
Saudi Arabia targeted for a specific type of hepatitis viruses.
Abstract: Studies were carried out to determine the in vitro
susceptibility of the typhoid pathogens to combined action of Euphorbia hirta, Euphorbia heterophylla and Phyllanthus niruri. Clinical isolates of the typhoid bacilli were subjected to susceptibility testing using agar diffusion technique and the minimum inhibitory
concentration (MIC) determined with tube dilution technique. These
isolates, when challenged with doses of the extracts from the three
medicinal plants showed zones of inhibition as wide as 26±0.2mm, 22±0.1mm and 18±0.0mm respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) revealed organisms inhibited at varying
concentrations of extracts: E. hirta (S. typhi 0.250mg/ml, S. paratyphi A 0.125mg/ml, S. paratyphi B 0.185mg/ml and S. paratyphi C 0.225mg/ml), E. heterophylla (S. typhi 0.280mg/ml, S. paratyphi A
0.150mg/ml, S. paratyphi B 0.200mg/ml and S. paratyphi C 0.250mg/ml) and P. niruri (S. typhi 0.150mg/ml, S. paratyphi A 0.100mg/ml, S. paratyphi B 0.115mg/ml and S. paratyphi C 0.125mg/ml). The results of the synergy between the three plants in
the ration of 1:1:1 showed very low MICs for the test pathogens as follows S. typhi 0.025mg/ml, S. paratyphi A 0.080mg/ml, S. paratyphi B 0.015mg/ml and S. paratyphi C 0.10mg/ml with the
diameter zone of inhibition (DZI) ranging from 35±0.2mm,
28±0.4mm, 20±0.1mm and 32±0.3mm respectively. The secondary
metabolites were identified using simple methods and HPLC. Organic components such as anthroquinones, different alkaloids,
tannins, 6-ethoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-2,2,4-trimethyl and steroids were identified. The prevalence of Salmonellae, a deadly infectious disease, is still very high in parts of Nigeria. The synergistic action of these three plants is very high. It is concluded that pharmaceutical companies should take advantage of these findings to develop new
anti-typhoid drugs from these plants.
Abstract: This study investigated the seasonal prevalence of
Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus larvae in three topographical areas
(i.e. mangrove, rice paddy and mountainous areas). Samples were
collected from 300 households in both wet and dry seasons in nine
districts in Nakhon Si Thammarat province. Ae. aegypti and Ae.
albopictus were found in 21 out of 29 types of water containers in
mangrove, rice paddy and mountainous areas. Ae. aegypti and Ae.
albopictus laid eggs in different container types depending on season
and topographical areas. Ae. aegypti larvae were found most in metal
box in mangrove and mountainous areas in wet season. Ae.
albopictus larvae were also found most in metal box in mangrove and
mountainous areas in both wet and dry seasons. All Ae. albopictus
larval indices were higher than Ae. aegypti larval indices in all three
topographical areas and both seasons. HI and BI did not differ in
three topographical areas but differed between Aedes sp. HI for both
Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus in all three topographical areas in both
seasons were greater than 10 %, except Aedes aegypti in rice paddy
area in wet season. This indicated high risks of DHF transmission in
these areas.
Abstract: Whilst there is growing evidence that activity
across the lifespan is beneficial for improved health, there are
also many changes involved with the aging process and
subsequently the potential for reduced indices of health. The
nexus between health, physical activity and aging is complex
and has raised much interest in recent times due to the
realization that a multifaceted approached is necessary in
order to counteract a growing obesity epidemic. By
investigating age based trends within a population adhering to
competitive sport at older ages, further insight might be
gleaned to assist in understanding one of many factors
influencing this relationship.
BMI was derived using data gathered on a total of 6,071
masters athletes (51.9% male, 48.1% female) aged 25 to 91
years ( =51.5, s =±9.7), competing at the Sydney World
Masters Games (2009). Using linear and loess regression it
was demonstrated that the usual tendency for prevalence of
higher BMI increasing with age was reversed in the sample.
This trend in reversal was repeated for both male and female
only sub-sets of the sample participants, indicating the
possibility of improved prevalence of BMI with increasing
age for both the sample as a whole and these individual subgroups.
This evidence of improved classification in one index of
health (reduced BMI) for masters athletes (when compared to
the general population) implies there are either improved
levels of this index of health with aging due to adherence to
sport or possibly the reduced BMI is advantageous and
contributes to this cohort adhering (or being attracted) to
masters sport at older ages. Demonstration of this
proportionately under-investigated World Masters Games
population having an improved relationship between BMI and
increasing age over the general population is of particular
interest in the context of the measures being taken globally to
curb an obesity epidemic.